Optimizing high aspect ratio composite wings through geometrically nonlinear aeroelastic tailoring

ifasd2024 Tracking Number 15

In aerospace engineering, the focus on innovating and optimizing the design and manufacturing processes of high-aspect-ratio composite wings is pivotal for achieving efficiency and advancements. These wings, characterized by their elongated and slender structures, utilize advanced materials like carbon fiber and employ efficient manufacturing techniques, such as vacuum bagging. The potential benefits of such wings include significantly lighter aircraft, reduced fuel consumption, and improved overall performance. However, realizing these advantages requires addressing numerous structural and aeroelastic constraints. This research introduces an aeroelastically tailored Multi-objective, Multi-disciplinary Design Optimization (MMDO) approach that seamlessly integrates numerical optimization techniques. The primary objectives are to minimize weight, ensure structural integrity, and subsequently manufacture the optimized wing configuration. Ground Vibration Testing (GVT) is performed to validate, update, and correlate with the numerical model. The proposed numerical methodology integrates Finite Element (FE) modelling and analysis software, an in-house Reduced Order Model (ROM) framework for nonlinear aeroelastic analyses and tailoring, and using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) as a stochastic optimization method. This integration creates a robust numerical approach within the Nonlinear Aeroelastic Simulation Software (NAS2) package for designing composite wings with enhanced aeroelastic and structural performance. This comprehensive methodology aims to produce composite wings that meet safety and performance standards while driving cost-efficiency in the aerospace industry. The paper's contributions lie in: • Proposing a Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) method addressing structural, composite material, aeroelastic, and manufacturing constraints for UAV wings. Optimization considers critical factors like buckling, deformations, stress limitations, composite failure, delamination constraints, flutter, and gust response restrictions. • Emphasizing the importance of addressing geometrically nonlinear static and dynamic constraints, contributing to the optimization of highly flexible composite wings. • Introducing NAS2, a fully automated in-house software, for optimizing and designing composite aircraft structures, offering versatility in aerodynamics and structural models for different flight conditions, wing setups, and optimization scenarios. • Conducting manufacturing, material characterization, and experimental tests on the optimized composite wing to validate the NAS2 software and gain insights into the practical challenges of this multidisciplinary field, distinguishing the research in its comprehensiveness among studies on high-aspect-ratio composite aircraft wing design.